​‘Idea of the ICC hearing Gaddafi’s son case is a farce’

The ICC was created by the same people who organized the overthrow and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, so the trial on his son Saif is a complete fraud, Lawrence Freeman, editor of the Executive Intelligence Review magazine, told RT.

John Jones, Saif Gaddafi’s lawyer, on the trial: “The ICC has
ordered Saif Gaddafi to be delivered to The Hague and that was
ordered two and a half years ago by the Trial Chamber and
confirmed by the Appeals Chamber. The position under
international law is that Libya has an obligation to deliver
him to The Hague; obviously it hasn’t happened so far. The sad
fact is that the ICC has made this order, it hasn’t been
respected and there has been no follow-up by the Security
Council.”

Saif Gaddafi, a son of
the former Libyan leader, is awaiting trial for the masterminding
the murders and torture during the 2011 civil war in Libya. The
hearing was postponed till November 16 after he failed to appear
by video link from jail, which also triggered concerns about his
safety, given that he is guarded by armed militia and is not
being held in a government prison. Saif Gaddafi’s lawyers say
that there has been no direct contact with him since June 2012
and he is still kept in Libya, though he should have been
delivered to The Hague.

RT:While the ICC charged Saif Gaddafi along
with his father in 2011, it still cannot compel the Libyan
government to allow it access. Why is that? What does it say
about the ICC's authority?

Lawrence Freeman: The whole effort by
International Criminal Court is a complete fraud. The irony is
that the very people, who created the ICC going back several
years, coming out of British and American policy, are the same
people who organized the overthrow and the assassination of
President Gaddafi in 2011. We look at people like Tony Blair,
Samantha Power, Susan Rice and others. So the idea that the
Criminal Court is going to carry out any justice for the country,
as they have the same sponsors of overthrow and destruction, I
think, is a bit of a farce.

John Jones, Saif Gaddafi’s lawyer, on the trial: “I hope Saif
Gaddafi is alive. You can imagine his condition after three
years being held in those conditions, his mental state is
probably pretty bad. My position is that he can’t have a fair
trial now anywhere, in Libya or in The Hague. The only thing
that can happen to him is to be released.”

RT:The former rebel groups holding Saif
have refused to hand him over to the central government in
Tripoli. How does this reflect on the actual power of the central
authorities?

LF: There is no power of the central authorities
right now in Libya: the country is worsening by the day, by the
week, by the month. This was predictable when the country was
overthrown three years ago. Some foolish people thought somehow
that it would be an improvement for Libya, and many people now
think Libya is headed into a failed state. This is directly the
fault and responsibility of the American leadership. President
Obama, Susan Rice and the British leadership. They bear full
responsibility for Libya heading into a failed state and there is
no manner called “legal action” that is going to correct that.

RT:Why has it taken so long to bring this
man to justice?

John Jones, Saif Gaddafi’s lawyer, on the trial: “Simply
bearing the name Gaddafi is enough to condemn people in the
eyes of the world, of the international community. It may well
be that Saif Gaddafi is entirely innocent of the allegations
against him.”

LF: Right now Libya is not a nation, is not a
country as its being destroyed day after day. Therefore, whatever
actions are taken this is not going to solve Libyan difficulties,
this will not bring justice to Libya. And the fact now is there
are indications that you have the involvement of the Islamic
State in Libya make the situation much worse. Of course this
spills over into what is going on in Egypt and it spills over
into what is going on in the Middle East with the policies of
Obama contrary to the policies of the military are for the
overthrow of Assad, President of Syria, which will spread war
even further. So what we have between the Middle East and North
Africa, we have the potential of spreading war and chaos that
could lead to –with other events going on internationally in
Ukraine and elsewhere- to a full-scale world war between the
major powers. This is the immediate danger, and what happens to
Gaddafi’s son that’s not the occasion of the same importance.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.